The Thunder Thighs That Could

I figured I'd do a little race recap before I got all caught up in the whole moving to Texas thing. It's kinda already started but I don't feel like packing so here I am. Ha!

So Friday morning I got off work and Ryan and I went down to the beach for a little while, gotta soak it up while we have the chance.

Also, no sleep for me, in order to make sure I could sleep that night I stayed up all day after my shift to ensure that I was real good and tired that night...it worked. I was pretty much sleep walking by 5. That night I took a relaxing hot bath, laid out my clothes for the next morning, and hit the hay.

The morning of the race I was pretty nervous, I'm not sure why. I had already run 12 miles three different times so what was one more mile? I don't know. I guess I was afraid of getting hurt or of just how badly that extra mile was going to suck. But once we got to the park with all the people and vendors I started getting more excited and more than anything just wanted to get it over with. Ha!

My buddy Crystal and her BF Dan came to cheer me on! They ran the last half mile or so with me!

Ready to go!

Just outta the chute!

Let me just say that Riverside Roadrunners LIED when they said this course was relatively flat. Basically the whole first 7 miles were up hill, and a lot of them were steep! Like, having to walk down so I didn't fall, steep. These thunder thighs were BURNIN' but I just kept bouncing, didn't stop. I wanted to stop and walk so badly but all the cheers from my Nike Plus app kept me going. Mile 8 was downhill and from then on it was pretty flat with some slight hills every now and then. Ryan met me at mile 9 and ran with me through 12.

3 miles left!! Almost there!!

I finished the race in 2 hours and 51 minutes, which is about a 13:03 pace. So I achieved my goal of finishing under three hours and considering all the hills my pace was about the same as the average of my last three 12 milers. 

Crossing the finish line. Yes, I was running. No, it doesn't look like it.

BAM! 13.1 BABY!!

Overall I'm pretty happy with how things went. It feels really weird to not be working towards something. I feel like I don't have a direction anymore, so after a short break from running to let my knees heal I'm gonna start training for my next one!! This time I'll increase my mileage a little slower and actually do some hill and speed work.

Can't wait to start working for my next one!